Today, I feel like writing about just why exactly this entrepreneurship gig is so hard. So stressful. So overwhelming. I want to write about it this way — focusing on the difficulty rather than on the ways you can deal with this difficulty — because I think it’s important to understand the root causes of entrepreneurial stress and hardship because otherwise it’s far too easy for us to minimize it, ignore it, and in doing so, compound it.

I’ve been thinking a lot this summer about discipline. I’ve occasionally found myself googling things like “how to become more disciplined.” But the advice I’ve found has usually been pretty stupid and has felt pretty useless, and all of that has led me to question what discipline even is and whether I need to develop it as a personal and professional trait.

Here’s the thing: if you still don’t know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, who you’re talking to, or what you want from them, then you’re wasting your time (and your readers’ time) with an email list. If you don’t have a point of view and value to provide, you’re wasting your time. If you don’t know exactly who your ideal customer is, you’re wasting your time. If you don’t have a plan to consistently communicate with your email list, you’re wasting your time.

So here’s what I think you need to get in place before you even need to bother with your email list. And since I think the email list is super important to growing your business, mark these down as super important things to get in place as soon as you can.

It feels like the future of the business includes working less. Like as in fewer hours. So I'm in full-on dreaming mode over here. I'm fantasizing about what it would look like to still run a totally rad, breadwinning business without feeling like I absolutely need to be working 40 hours a week.

I've been designing for Minted for just about six years now, and during all that time I've secretly hoped that one day, they'd do a "Meet a Mintie" article about me. Well the did, and I love how it turned out. I'm just gonna leave a link for you right here in case you're interested in reading it and seeing some behind-the-scenes shots from el studio.

This post isn’t about Company X. It’s about me negotiating issues of value, personal principles, cooperation and compromise, worry, money, and respect. It’s about situating myself within broader communities. It’s about the collision of work and family. It’s about whether I’m mad and whether I have any right to be mad.

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If you have questions, want to inquire about custom work, or need help, don't hesitate to contact me! You can email me directly or start a conversation by using the form on this page.

Please note that I am usually in the studio M-F 8:30AM-4:30PM EDT/EST.

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